Thank you for visiting our forum. As a guest, you have limited access to view some discussion and articles. By joining our free community, you will be able to view all discussions and articles, post your own topics, communicate privately with other members (PM), respond to polls, upload photos, participate in Pick'Em contests and access many other special features. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free, so please join our community today!!

We may think of baseball as America's national pastime, but in the 1870s and 1880s there was another sports craze sweeping the nation: competitive walking. "Watching people walk was America's favorite spectator sport," Matthew Algeo says in his new book, Pedestrianism.

"In the decades after the Civil War there was mass urbanization in the United States [with] millions of people moving into the cities," Algeo tells NPR's Robert Siegel. "And there wasn't much for them to do in their free time, so pedestrianism — competitive walking matches — filled a void for people. It became quite popular quite quickly."

Huge crowds packed indoor arenas to watch the best walkers walk. Think of it as a six-day NASCAR race ... on feet.

"These guys were walking 600 miles in six days," Alego says. "They were on the track almost continuously. They'd have little cots set up inside the track where they would nap a total of maybe three hours a day. But generally, for 21 hours a day, they were in motion walking around the track."

This is proof that people had much less to do back in the past. I am talking about the spectators. I do not of any regular person that could waste a few days of their lives watching pedestrians. Of course we have so much to capture our attention nowadays that this has no way of making sense to my brain.

I think this is a great idea. I think we spend FAR too much time on our butts. That's why we are an obese nation. From our commute to our jobs to sitting in front of the TV, we are too fat.

In Europe, people have to walk a lot - even to public transportation. Many even go for a stroll in the evening. If walking became hip again, we would be much healthier. Plus getting outside or even walking with a friend can be more calming and peaceful than anything we watch on TV.

I'm not sure I'd walk 600 miles in a week but I like the idea. Maybe I should have lived back then!